Folding clothes airer



Jan. 5, 1960 D, CLEGG ETAL FOLDING CLOTHES AIRER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 File@Jdne 25, 1957 Jn Mw @y Jan. 5, 1960 J. D. cLEGG ETAL FOLDING CLOTHESAIRER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 25, 1957 er md@ M1 fum NToevE/s:

United States Patent O FOLDING CLOTHES AIRER John Dennis Clegg,Solihull, and John Henry Day, Moseley, Birmingham, England, assignors toHome-Ease Limited, Birmingham, England, a British company ApplicationJune 25, 1957, Serial No. 667,895

Claims priority, application Great Britain July 3, 1956 1 claim. (cl.al1-17s) This invention'relates to clothes airers of the kind whichr areadapted to be stood upon a Hoor or like surface, the airer including aplurality of upright members,

there being disposed between adjacent upright members aplurality ofhorizontally disposed rails, each rail serving to support the clotheswhich are to be aired and the arrangement being such that the airer canbe folded into a substantially flat condition for storage.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improvedconstruction.

According to the present invention, we provide va clothes airer, whereineach upright member is constituted by a frame, each said frame varyingin width from top to bottom thereof, adjacent rails being secured totheir respective frames at points of differing widths, whereby the railsare kdisposed in diterent vertical as well as horizontal planes, so thatwhen the airer is in its erected position, the clothes hanging on anupper rail do not rest on those which are on a lower rail.

Preferably three upright frames are provided and each frame may consistof a number of superposed elements each of dilerent width.

For example, each frame may consist of a lower element which is ofrectangular form, an intermediate element of inverted U-shape, the freeends of the limbs of the U being secured to the upper member of therectangular element and an upper pillar which is secured centrally tothe base of the intermediate U-shape member. v

A pair of rails may extend between adjacent lower elements and betweenadjacent intermediate elements of the frame, whilst a single rail mayextend between adjacent pillar elements of the frames.

The ends of the rails may be pivotally secured to the elements of theframe whereby when the airer is moved into its folded state, each outerframe and the intermediate frame, together with their associated rails,fold with a parallelogram linkage motion.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating the airer in a partiallyopen position.

Figure 2 is a perspective view illustrating the airer in a fully openposition.

Figure 3 is a partial plan view illustrating the airer in a partiallyopen position.

Figure 4 is a detail illustrating the connection between the twosections of the airer.

Figure 5 is a detail illustrating the connection of the horizontal railsto a frame member of the airer, and

Figure 6 is a detail illustrating the method of attachment of thehorizontal rails to the attachment member.

In the form of our invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings,the airer includes three upright frame members, 10, 11 and 12 which areadapted to occupy a vertical plane when the airer is in its open-out oroperative position. Each of these frames 10, 11 and 12 is made up ofthree elements consisting of a lower eley 2,919,818 Patented Jan. 5,1960 I'Ce ment 13 which isof rectangular form, an intermediate element14 of an inverted U-shape and an upper element 15 in the form of asingle pillar. Each intermediate element 14 has the free ends of the twolimbs 16 thereof secured to the upper end 17 of its associatedrectangular lower element 13, the intermediate elements 14 being ofapproximately half the Width of the lower elements 13 and being securedcentrally thereto. pillar-like element 15 is secured centrally to thebase of the corresponding intermediate element 14 by means of a screw orlike fastening which will permit of relative pivotal movement betweenthe two elements.

Thus, each frame has three portions of differing widths',

The upper transverse member 17 of each lower element 13 andthe base 18of each intermediate element` may conveniently be made of metal bar ofrectangular section, whereas each upper element 15 and the remainingportions of the intermediate and lower elements are made of tube. Thuseach lower element consists of a U-shaped portion of tube 19 with thefourth side of the rectangle completed by the metal bar 17.

With the clothes airer in its operative or open position, as seen inFigure 2, the one frame is disposed intermediate the other two frames sothat the airer canV be regarded as being composed of two pairs of frameswith the intermediate frame common to both pairs.

Associated with each pair of frames are ve horizontal rails which areadapted to support the clothes. Two of these rails 20 are securedbetween the lower elements 13 of a pair of frames, while a further tworails 21 are secured between the intermediate elements 14 and theremaining rail 22 is secured between the upper elements 15.

Each of the rails 2l) and 21 which are secured to the intermediate 14and lower 13 elements of the frames is of tubular form with the endsthereof adapted to receive an attachment member 23 whereby the rails canbe engaged with the tubular side members 16 and 19 respectively .of theintermediate 14 and lower 13 elements of the frame. Each attachmentmember 23 is in the form of a knuckle and comprises a hollow spigot 24which is adapted to engage in the end of a rail 20 or 21 and a laterallyoset head portionV 25 which cornprises a pair of spaced plate-likemembers 26 each of which is provided with a through aperture 27. Thehead 25 of each attachment member 23 is adapted to engage a tubular sidemember 16 or 19 of an intermediate or lower element of the frame so asto provide a pivotal connection between the rails. andthe frame toenable the airer to be folded and unfolded. The attachment members 23may be secured to the frame through the medium of a peg 28 adapted toseat in the tubular side members of the frame or the tubular sidemembers themselves may be swaged or otherwise worked to provide a stopto locate the ends of the rails against axial movement.

Each attachment member 23 may' conveniently be formed as a sheet metalpressing and in order to enable the attachment members 23 to be securedto the horizontal rails of the airer each spigot portion 24 is formedwith a pair of apertures 29 into which the metal of the end portion ofthe horizontal rail can be deformed by a suitable pressing operation,this deformation being indicated by the reference numeral 3d in Figure6. Instead of forming each attachment member 213 as a metal pressing,they may be formed as a plastic moulding in which case, the spigot 24and the head 25 would be solid, but would be provided with recessessimilar to the apertures 29 and with a through aperture 27 in the headfor attachment to the frame members.

ln order to facilitate the folding of the airer into a tlat condition,the attachment members 23 at the outer ends of a set of rails aredisposed so that their heads pro- Each upper d ject in the oppositedirection to those at the other end, as wiil be seen from Figure 3.

The two raiis 20 which are secured between the lower elements il3 ofeach pair of frames and the two rails 2 which are secured between theintermediate elements i4 of each pair are each displaced vertically withrespect to one another, so that they do not abut one another when 'theairer is in its folded position.

The upper rail 22 associated with each pair of frames is preferably ofelongated L-shape and is formed of tube, the free end ofthe shorter limbwhich constit upper element E5 of the outer frame of each pair beingsecured to the base i8 of the intermediate element ifi of the outerframe of each pair, whilst the other end of each upper rail 23 isprovided with an attachment member 23 as described above and secured tothe upper e the intermediate frame.

Each rail is covered with polythene or like tubing so as to enhance theappearance and so as to enable the sur- `face of the rail to be keptclean so that the clothes hanging thereon will not inadvertently becomemarked. The polythene tubing is preferably provided with longitudinalribs, so as to prevent wet clothes from slipping off the rails, and isapplied to the rails in any suitable manner so that it is aninterference iit therewith.

The airer rests on the iioor or other supporting surface with the lowerends of the three frames in contact therewith so that the airer isextremely stable and it can be folded from an out-of-use or hatcondition into the normal wide angle or narrow angle V as may bedesired, or it can be folded so that the two pairs of frames are inalignment to provide a straight airer. in order to increase itsstability, the lower end of each frame may be provided with rubber feet3i.

In order to ensure that the two sections of the airer pivot in unisonwith respect to the intermediate frame, a coupling member 32 isprovided. As will clearly be seen from Figure 4 this coupling member 32comprises a slide 33 which is mounted in a guide 34 secured to theunderside of the upper transverse member 17 of the intermediate frame,this slide 33 having pivotally secured thereto two swing arms 35 and 36whose other ends are secured to one of the lower rails of each sectionof the airer.

Instead of providing an airer which consists of two sections, eachfolding as a parallelogram and the two parallelograms folding withrespect to one another, the airer may be in the form of a single sectionconsisting of two end frames and ve horizontal rails, such an airerfolding upon itself with a parallelograrn action. single unit isparticularly suitable for use in ats and such like confineddwelling-places. Alternatively, an airer may consist of three or moresections.

Such a Such a clothes airer as is described above is extremely stable,has an attractive appearance, and is of particular value with thepresent day tendency towards drip-dry articles of clothing7 for theairer can be stood in a bath without danger of damage to the bath andwithout danger of the airer falling over.

What we claim then is:

A clothes rack having a central frame member, a pair of end tramemembers disposed one on either side C l the central frame member, eachframe member being pled '.n on a floor or like supporting surface anddecretiu ig in width from the bottom to the top thereof, one set ofclothes supporting rails extending between the one end frame member andthe central trame, a second set of clothes supporting rails extending'between other end frame member and the central frame, each of railsincluding a pair of lower rails extending between the widest parts ofthe respective frames, a pair of intermediate rails extending betweennarrower parts of the respective frames and a single upper railextending between the tops of said respective frames, the ends of eachof said pairs of rails being pivotally connected to their associatedframes and one end of each upper rail being pivotally connected to thecentral frame whereas the opposite end of each said upper rail is formedwith an upper part or each end frame, the said upper parts of the endframes being pivotally secured to said end frames, whereby each set ofpairs of rails and its associated frame members forms a parallelogramlinkage so that in the operative position of the rack all of the railsmay extend at right angles to their respective frames, whereas in theinoperative position of the rack all of the rails and frames may befolded so that they are substantially co-planar, and a coupling membercarried by the central frame member, said coupling member including aslide mounted for sliding movement in a guide secured to the centralframe member and a pair of swing arms each having one end thereofpivotally connected to the slide and the other end thereof pivotallyconnected to the corresponding rail of the lower pair of each set ofrails. so that each set of rails and their associated end frame memberfold in unison about the central frame member.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 454,328Buchholz June 16, i89l 1,693,839 Faudi Dec. 4, 1928 1,779,788 WestonOct. 28, 1930 1,837,388 Wood Dec. 22, 193i 2,605,030 Fischer July 9,1957. 2,706,563 Larson Apr. 19, 1955

